Opposition claims victory in Irish election

As the final votes are counted from Friday's general elections, the opposition leader set to become Ireland's new prime minister said the incoming government will have "no time to lose" in tackling the country's economic problems. Early results show Enda Kenny and his Fine Gael party have the largest number of seats in the Irish parliament, while the ruling Fianna Fail party is set to lose two-thirds of its MPs.

Reuters/Darren Staples

With 131 of 166 seats declared on Sunday, Fine Gael had 59 seats, the Labour party had 31, Fianna Fail had just 14 and the republican Sinn Fein party had 13.

That means Fine Gael will not have an overall majority in the Dail, or lower house of parliament. The party is most likely to form a coalition with Labour.

Kenny pledged to get the new leadership in place "very quickly", saying that it was important to international markets that Ireland had "a stable and strong government".

He has also promised to start working to deliver Fine Gael's key campaign pledge to renegotiate Ireland's heavily criticised 85-billion-euro bailout with the European Union and International Monetary Fund.

Kenny said he'd already been in contact with European officials on Sunday and would be ready for action next week.

Public resentment of the bailout, which obliges Ireland to pay back its loans with interest of 5.8 per cent, cost Fianna Fail its long-time dominance in parliament.

The party's unprecedented defeat is blamed on its handling of Ireland's economic crisis, which has seen unemployment rise to 13.4 per cent.

Fianna Fail's coalition partners, the Greens, also suffered in Friday's elections, winning just 2.7 per cent of the vote.

Final results are expected by Monday. The Dail will meet on 9 March, when Kenny will officially become the new taoiseach, or prime minister.